LPS Colloquium on Plasma Science & Applications featuring Dr. Keith Matzen
Reflections on decades of progress in pulsed-power-driven HED science
Dr. Keith Matzen
Sandia National Laboratories Fellow, Advanced Science & Technology Division
Over the past four decades, the Pulsed Power Sciences program at Sandia National Laboratories has progressed from the challenge of delivering a few million Amperes of current to gas-puff z pinches to reliably and reproducibly delivering 20-30 million Amperes to a wide variety of experimental platforms that push the frontiers of high-energy-density (HED) science in the following areas: Magnetized and Inertial Confinement Fusion (MIF/ICF), Radiation Effects Science (RES), Dynamic Material Properties (DMP), and fundamental astrophysics. This fascinating journey combined theory, simulations, and experiments coupled with new diagnostic and target fabrication development to provide a strong foundation that is likely to yield surprising and impactful scientific discoveries for decades to come.
Host: Gennady Shvets
Join us for a reception before the talk from 3:45 until 4:15 p.m.
About the speaker: Keith Matzen was appointed Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) Fellow in 2018, one of twenty such appointments in the 75-year history of SNL. In this appointment, Keith relies on his over 40 years of scientific and leadership experience in the High Energy Density (HED) science and Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) mission areas to help refine the scope and requirements for scientific capabilities needed to address challenges in national security and fundamental HED science. Prior to becoming a laboratory fellow, Keith served as the Director of the Pulsed Power Sciences Center for twelve years and as the Principal Program Director of Sandia’s Nuclear Weapons Science and Technology Program for two years, with responsibility for coordinating Sandia’s programs in ICF, HED, advanced scientific computing, engineering physics, and experimental and testing infrastructure. Keith is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and has received the Fusion Power Associates Leadership and Distinguished Career Awards.
